DISH brings the 4K

DISH is getting into the 4K game at long last with a full-time channel for Hopper 3 and its 4K Joey clients. DISH channel 540 will be carrying 4K on Saturdays all season with college football that you won’t see in 4K anywhere else. They also say this is the beginning of something big, and that they’ll be showing 4K baseball and other sports throughout the year.

DISH has been slower to adopt 4K than DIRECTV, instead relying on the Hopper’s ability to connect to Netflix for the bulk of its 4K options. This could be the beginning of an industry-wide adoption of 4K, which would be a long time coming.

And for you press release fans, you know I wouldn’t leave you out in the cold:

DISH now delivering select college football games from FOX Sports in 4K.

September 21, 2017 09:01 AM Eastern Daylight Time
ENGLEWOOD, Colo.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–DISH today announced that it will deliver select college football games from FOX Sports’ FS1 in 4K, beginning with the Oklahoma-Baylor matchup on Saturday, September 23 at 6:30 p.m. ET. Games will be simulcast in the pixel-packed format every weekend on DISH channel 540 throughout football season for Hopper 3 customers.

“DISH has offered 4K-ready set-top boxes for three years, and 4K TV market share is anticipated to exceed one-in-four U.S. households by the end of 2017,” said Vivek Khemka, DISH executive vice president and chief technology officer. “The missing element? 4K programming. That’s why it’s great to see forward-looking companies like FOX invest in 4K production, so together we can deliver live entertainment in crystal-clear resolution.”

This move is part of a broader agreement that includes future 4K coverage of college basketball games, Major League Baseball and NASCAR racing.

DISH offers a slate of 4K programming from NBCUniversal, Netflix, The Orchard and Mance Media. The company has also delivered special 4K broadcasts throughout the past year, including a live PPV broadcast of Bellator NYC: Sonnen vs. Silva mixed martial arts fight, Planet Earth II, and NBC’s coverage of the Games of the XXXI Olympiad from Rio de Janeiro.

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